The study examines the effects of stress during pregnancy on catecholamine concentrations in discrete brain areas of the rat. This study also examines the effects of prenatal stress on catecholamine concentrations in 24 discrete brain areas of rat offspring as adults. Prenatally-stressed male offspring as adults had significantly lower norepinephrine concentrations in the medial preoptic nucleus and median eminence. Prenatally-stressed female offspring had significantly higher norepinephrine concentrations in the entorhinal cortex, higher dopamine concentrations in the arcuate nucleus and lower dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and periventricular nucleus than did normal adult females. These findings correlate with prior findings that prenatal stress feminizes sexual behavior of male offspring as adults and suggest that brain neurochemical alterations may play a role in the behavioral changes. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Thoa, N.B., Tizabi, Y., and Jacobowitz, D.M.: The effect of isolation on catecholamine concentration and turnover in discrete areas of the rat brain. Brain Res. (In press) 1977. Moyer, J.A., Herrenkohl, L.R., and Jacobowitz, D.M.: Effects of stress during pregnancy on catecholamines in discrete brain regions. Brain Res. 121: 385-393, 1977.